Twin Cities Car 1583

Type: StreetcarBuilt: 1929Acquired: 2002Seats: 48

1583's body was discovered in Northern Wisconsin, along Adams County Highway C between Monroe Center and Big Flatts. The car was apparently being used as a storage shed for a repair business. It had a false metal roof over it; it was this roof that protected the body from some twenty-seven years of deterioration from weather and sun.

In 1981, after buying the car for $1,000, Rick Volkmann and crew moved it to North Prairie where the car was restored. When Paul Averdung made arrangements with the Village of East Troy to operate the railroad, 1583 arrived on the property and ran for many years as Duluth 253.

1583 was acquired by the Friends of the East Troy Electric Railroad Museum, Inc. when they took over operations in 2002. The car was still known as Duluth 253, although there were rumors circulating regarding it's real identity. Then the Minnesota Transportation Museum (MTM) wrote a letter to the East Troy Museum stating that the car was really Twin City Rapid Transit (TCRT) #1583. TCRT had a practice of stamping all car parts with the number of the car. Since all the windows were found stamped 1583 along with many other parts, it became obvious that MTM was correct and this was really TCRT car 1583!

The construction of Twin City Rapid Transit Company's 1583 was completed on April 19, 1913 at the Snelling Shops in St. Paul Minnesota. TCRT built approximately 1,000 similar streetcars with variations in door arrangements, trucks, etc. More than 1.200 streetcars were built in the company shops over the years with some also going to: Seattle, Tacoma, Duluth-Superior, Winnipeg, Cripple Creek, and the Minneapolis, Anaka & Cuyuna Range RR and the Aurora, Elgin & Chicago RR.

The 1583 was reconstructed in 1928 as a "front-exit" car and then was assigned to the North Side Station; it was usually assigned to the Chicago-Penn-Fremont Line. In 1933, the 1583 was rebuilt for one/two man operation; fifteen years later it received it's final rehabilitation along with new steel plating and Twin City Line emblems. Car 1583 developed electrical or mechanical problems in January 1954 and was removed from service. On April 29, 1954, the 1583 body was sold to Transportation Sales Company, a dealer in used streetcar bodies.

Car 1583 spent its entire life in the Twin Cities as a single-ended streetcar. TCRT had very few double-ended cars. The car was double-ended at North Prairie, as there were no loops or wyes available to turn the car. In fact, the west end of car 1583 is the original front of the car.

The 1583 is the only metal-plated TCRT streetcar in operation anywhere today. Streetcars in museums in the Twin Cities and at Seashore are wood-sided cars. Trolley poles on TCRT cars used large wheels in place of shoes, which helped with backing moves through wyes; wyes were used more often than loops to turn the cars at the end of the car lines.

Although the Duluth - Superior Traction Company purchased many TCRT streetcars for use on their system, the 1583 never ran in Duluth or Superior and it was never numbered 253.

Taken from the Wisconsin Trolley Gazette "The Jolly Trolley Odyssey" written by Forrest Johnson